Lottery winner thought ticket might be expired; happy to be wrong

Dianna Boyer won the Set For Life lotto. Her husband Clement was with her at the announcement. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

The way Manitoba’s latest lottery millionaire recalls it, she thought the three "Set for Life" symbols on a winning ticket probably had a catch.

"I turned the ticket over to look at the expiry date. I thought there must be something wrong!" St. Eustache winner Dianna Boyer told the Western Canada Lottery Corporation in a prepared statement.

The lottery corporation routinely releases personal accounts in statements along with an announcement of the latest winners.

It was last Saturday, Boyer recalled. She’d just finished house cleaning and she picked up the two tickets she buys every payday and scratched them to see if she’d won anything. Typically, it’s a free ticket or maybe $5, she said.

Winners have a choice on how they collect their prize: $1,000 a week for 25 years or a single payment of $1 million.

Boyer said she and her husband don’t plan any big changes right off. "We have some bills to pay but we want to take it all in and collect some interest while we collect our thoughts."

She’d like to take her husband on a trip and buy a small house, with a window in the kitchen. "We love nature and we’d love to watch all the birds and animals from the kitchen," she said.

She bought the winning ticket at the Elie Grocery Store, located about 48 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

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